


Bright

by TheNarator



Series: Honor Among Thieves [6]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Drunk Sex, Dubious Consent, M/M, Manipulation, barry being very morally questionable, because cisco is drunk so he can't really consent properly, evil!cisco, psychotech!cisco is still a villain and not in any way a good guy, this is an explanation not an excuse, villain origin story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-18
Updated: 2016-03-18
Packaged: 2018-05-27 12:02:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6283747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheNarator/pseuds/TheNarator
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cisco Ramon and Leonard Snart run into each other in a bar. From their conversation, Psychotech is born.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bright

**Author's Note:**

> ok so i meant for “egregious” to be the end of this series that kind of tied everything together, but it seems like i didn’t completely wrap it up. plus some of you asked for the same scene and once it was in my head it wouldn’t come out. i had intended for the event that caused cisco to become psychotech to be completely unimportant, just the straw that broke the camels’s back, but while i was thinking about it i suddenly had an idea for what the event could be and now i’m taking the opportunity to side-eye the show for the very real possibility that this might happen in canon. this still isn’t going against what i said because there IS coldvibe porn, so technically the series was just as done yesterday as it is right now.

Of all the places in the world Leonard Snart thought he’d run into the Flash’s sidekick, Saints and Sinners was not one of them. The kid was sitting at the bar nursing what looked like the most recent of several tequilas, hunched in on himself with his head bent over his glass. He looked deeply depressed.

Len could work with that.

“So,” he began, sliding onto the bar stool beside Cisco, “what brings one of the Flash’s crew to this part of town?”

“Oh great,” Cisco gave him a look of unbridled disgust, “it’s Barry’s other supervillain friend. Either kidnap me or go away, Barry’ll forgive you and I’m too drunk to deal with this right now.”

Those were two very interesting sentences, and immediately Len was dying to know more. Cisco had been off limits to him ever since his deal with Barry, but their terms only covered friends and family. If something had come between Barry and his team, then there might be room for renegotiation. He ignored the disgusted look and went on.

“Trouble on Team Flash I see,” he said, signaling the bartender for a drink of his own. “Is that why you’re here getting drunk?”

“Like you care,” Cisco scoffed, pausing to speak as he took another sip.

“Try me,” Len offered.

Cisco stared at him for a moment, as though wondering how much to tell him. Len kept his face determinedly blank, trying not to look like he was up to something, although he knew his resting expression hardly supported that conclusion. He _was_ a criminal, after all.

Whatever Cisco was looking for he apparently found it, because he looked back at his drink and began to explain.

“There’s this guy,” he said vaguely, “that we’ve been working with. He’s sort of been on the team for a few months now. His plans suck. His inventions don’t work, and the ones that do only do horrible stuff. He’s betrayed us at least once, and he got . . . one of us, hurt.”

“Sounds like a shitty ally,” Len speculated dryly. “Not someone I’d want on my crew. Why’s Barry letting him stay on yours?”

“Because he hates me,” Cisco said. He probably meant it sarcastically, but there was a bite of bitterness that said the words were truer than he cared to admit.

“This new guy,” Len asked pointedly, “or Barry?”

Cisco thought for a moment. “Both,” he said, then drained his drink.

Len’s drink arrived and he signaled for the bartender to pour Cisco another. She obliged, and Cisco examined it for a moment before taking a sip.

“Why does New Guy hate you?” Len pressed.

“I don’t even know,” Cisco admitted wearily. “I don’t think he knows. He’s just an angry, bitter old man who likes to yell at people who won’t fight back and throws stuff when he doesn’t get his way. He’s a fucking sadist too, gets his kicks out of scaring the shit out of me.”

“Barry lets him?” Len asked skeptically.

Cisco snorted. “Are you kidding? He thinks its funny.”

“That’s cold,” Len remarked.

“You know, I’m not going to forget that you’re Captain Cold if you stop making cold puns for five minutes,” Cisco told him, but with less annoyance than he might have.

Len downed his drink, never taking his eyes off Cisco. The kid wasn’t so much sipping as gulping now, clearly hell bent on getting as drunk as possible. That gave Len an idea. Once he finished the drink Len had gotten him he called for another, but Len shook his head at the bartender and she moved off.

“Hey,” Cisco protested, glaring at Len. “What was that for?”

“I think you’ve had enough,” Len told him, not trying to sound concerned but merely observant. It came out a bit patronizing, but that wasn’t too unusual for him.

Cisco continued to glare. “Why do you get to decide when I’ve had enough?” he demanded. “You’re not my dad, you’re not even my friend.”

“I could be,” Len said airily. “Sounds like you need some new ones.”

Cisco looked at him funny, half confused and half bleary-eyed from the tequila.

“Tell me what happened tonight that you want to get smashed so bad,” Len instructed.

Cisco looked back at his empty glass, hesitating. For a few moments it didn’t look like he was going to answer, but then he spoke in a soft, small voice.

“We found out he killed someone. Someone I was responsible for. I spent so long tracking this guy down, trying to put him away, and then this asshole just waltzes into his cell and sticks a gun up his nose. I just brought him in to die.”

“Seems like you should be getting drunk with your team then,” Len said. “You all failed, if the task was keeping all your prisoners alive, and you all got betrayed. Might suck, but at least you don’t have to deal with Mr. Not-So-Nice Guy anymore.”

A short, manic little laugh escaped Cisco’s lips as he clutched his glass tightly, looking at it rather than Len. There was something dark in that laugh, something wounded and full of rage. Whatever that something was, Len liked it.

“That’s just it though,” Cisco said, grimacing furious and bitter to himself, “we didn’t. He’s still there, and I’ll still have to deal with the asshole tomorrow.”

Len frowned. “You mean he’s not in prison?”

“Nope,” Cisco shook his head. “Barry forgave him. Just . . . forgave him. Like it was that simple. One hug from the Flash and you’re just absolved of all your sins. He killed someone, and he got away with it.”

Len considered this for a moment. He knew that the Flash’s concept of morality was fluid at best, but to let someone get away with cold-blooded murder? He’d risked his identity becoming public knowledge to send Captain Cold to jail after he killed Lewis. And he was just going to let this guy off with, not even a slap on the wrist, but a hug?

“Even after everything this guy's done to you?” Len asked.

“I’m beginning to think it’s _because_ of what he's done to me,” Cisco replied, and there wasn’t any sarcasm left in his voice. He believed it. Maybe it was true. “Barry’s been . . . different, lately. Mean. He mocks me. He laughs when I put work into something. I don’t know how much more of it I can take.”

“So don’t take any more,” Len suggested.

Cisco frowned at him in confusion. “What?”

“Sounds to me like you need new friends,” Len went on. “Better friends.”

“What, are you volunteering?” Cisco asked sarcastically.

It was clear that he hadn’t meant the question seriously. For him it had been a joke. It was no joke for Len though, and he proceeded to prove this fact by leaning in and capturing Cisco’s lips with his own.

Lisa had told him that Cisco was a good kisser. He’d assume she’d just been baiting him, tokenly trying to make him uncomfortable in their endless game of insults, but now he was forced to reconsider that conclusion. Cisco’s mouth was soft and warm and yielded easily, like he was used to letting someone else take control. Before he knew what was happening he had already hauled the kid into his lap, practically rutting against him right there in the bar.

They broke apart, both of them panting against each other’s mouths. “Let me take you home Cisco,” Len whispered.

Cisco grinned knowingly down at him; his position on Len’s lap put his head considerably higher. “I’ve fallen for this trick once Snart.”

“Your place then,” Len proposed, and Cisco blinked at him curiously. “And call me Len.”

By way of showing his sincerity Len rolled his hips, letting his clothed dick grind against Cisco’s. If they didn’t leave soon they’d get kicked out of the bar, and Cisco clearly knew it because he threw an anxious glance at the bartender, who was glaring at them.

“Fine  _Len_ ,” he said, “my place.”

The ride to Cisco’s apartment was entirely too short for Len’s taste. The kid had apparently been in Saints and Sinners because it was closest; a measly three city blocks and they were at his door, and still on the bad side of town. They barely made it to the third floor, and Len seriously considered just fucking the kid there in the stairwell, but eventually they reached the apartment and Cisco fumbled his key into the lock as best he could with Len kissing his neck.

Once they were inside Len pressed Cisco up against the door and kissed him hard again.

“Why do you live here?” he asked once he pulled away, continuing to speak in kisses against Cisco’s lips. “Don’t you know this part of town’s dangerous.”

“It’s all I can afford,” Cisco confessed, trying to deepen the kiss, but Len pulled back.

“Superhero work doesn’t pay all that well?” he asked in mock curiosity.

“Actually, I work for the CCPD now,” Cisco informed him coolly.

Len laughed. “Should I be worried?”

“Only if you don’t hurry up and get to it.”

Once they finally reached the bedroom Len walked Cisco backward toward the unmade bed until the kid tripped over the edge and went sprawling onto the tangled sheets. He looked so inviting, all splayed out and vulnerable, and Len needed there to be fewer clothes in between him and that view.

He shucked his coat and then his shirt, abandoning them to the mess of graphic t-shirts on the floor, and Cisco followed suit with his own shirt. He crawled backward up the bed and Len stalked after him, until Len had Cisco pinned beneath him. Len kissed him again, hard and deep and hungry, and then began a trail of brief, open-mouthed kisses down his neck and over his chest.

“Snart,” Cisco whined, and it _was_  nice to hear his name spoken like that, all high and needy.

“Relax,” Len whispered to the skin above Cisco’s heart. “Let me take care of you.”

Then he bit gently at a nipple, and Cisco arched while sucking in air between his teeth. “And I told you to call me Len.”

Cisco squirmed, but didn’t protest as Len kissed down his stomach toward the little trail of dark, coarse hair. With his usual calculated slowness Len unbuttoned and unzipped the corduroys and then pulled them down to Cisco’s thighs. Cisco made a soft, breathy noise when his cock sprang free, and then a considerably louder one when Len opened his throat and swallowed the whole thing in one go.

He could tell by the way Cisco was clutching at the sheets and biting his knuckles to keep quiet that the kid wasn’t going to last long. Not without help anyway. He swallowed once, enjoying the accompanying cry and full-body shudder, then pulled off and blew lightly on the hardened flesh before him. He knew the air would feel ice cold against the kid’s heated skin, which should be enough to cool him off for a moment or two.

To his surprise, Cisco came then and there, shooting jets of sticky white up his stomach and letting out a low, shuddering moan.

After only a few seconds he regained his senses though, and he looked down at Len in horror. His face was ruddy red, and he looked absolutely mortified.

“So you like the cold,” Len observed.

“Clearly,” Cisco retorted, still blushing.

“Remind me to bring some ice next time,” Len instructed.

Cisco raised an eyebrow. “Next time?”

Len responded by taking Cisco’s dick into his mouth again.

For the first few minutes the kid squirmed at the over-stimulation, but soon enough he was hard again and Len crawled up the bed until they were level with each other. He wasn’t sure if he should kiss Cisco right after sucking his dick, but Cisco took the initiative until they were kissing heatedly again. He fumbled with Len’s zipper, finally managing to pull it down just before Len knocked his hands away, and then both their dicks were out and grinding against each other.

Len took both of them in hand, Cisco’s still slick from his mouth, and began to jack them in tandem while Cisco continued to kiss him with all the desperation of an addict for a drug. He tried to go slow, but Cisco was squirming so deliciously against him that it ended up hard and fast, Len’s hand pumping furiously as they rutted against one another. It didn’t take long before both of them were coming, hard, adding to the sticky mess cooling on Cisco’s stomach.

As Cisco lay panting and sated Len untangled one of the sheets and drew it around the two of them, using one corner to wipe Cisco off. Then he propped his head up on one hand to look down at the kid as he got his breath back. For a few moments his eyes were glassy and far away as his breath came fast and frantic, but soon enough he began to blink rapidly as things came back into focus.

It was at that point that the first tears began to leak out of the corners of his eyes.

“Hey,” said Len, reaching over to wipe them away with one calloused thumb. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” Cisco lied, sounding like there was a lump in his throat. “I just . . . I slept with Captain Cold.”

“You regret it already?” Len asked, half amused. He’d known it was coming, but he hadn’t expected it quite this fast.

“I don’t know,” Cisco confessed, and that in itself was a bit surprising. “I don’t know if I should. I don’t know what matters anymore.”

Len narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”

“I mean what’s important now?” Cisco demanded, sitting up to look at Len with an expression of desperation and despair. “Usefulness? Apparently not. Human life? Ha! Doing the right thing? I don’t even know what that means these days.”

He was crying again, trying to dash the tears away with one hand, and he looked so pathetically miserable that Len couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. Clearly Barry Allen had done a number on this kid.

He leaned in and licked at one of the tear trails down Cisco’s face, tasting salt. Cisco shuddered, but he let Len press him back down to the bed and loom over him, continuing to remove the evidence of Cisco’s breakdown with gentle, open-mouthed kisses. Then Len moved to Cisco’s lips, kissing him softly and leisurely until the tension bled out of him.

Len pulled back, to find that Cisco had stopped crying and relaxed down into the pillows, gazing up at Len in something like wonder.

“There’s more,” Len stated firmly. “Tell me.”

Cisco swallowed. “I lost a friend recently,” he said quietly. “Jay. He never did anything but try to help us. Tried to warn us about Harry-”

“Who?” Len interrupted.

“The guy I was telling you about,” Cisco clarified. “Jay was a hero, and he got killed. I’m just scared that’s the way it is, I guess. The heroes die, and the villains get away with murder.”

“Well if that’s the case I know which team I’d rather be on, if I were you,” Len mused.

Cisco frowned. “Yeah, I get it, you love being a villain. That’s got nothing to do with me.”

“Why not?" Len wanted to know. “What have the good guys ever done for you? What’s being a hero gotten you? You’ve been abused, neglected, mocked . . . and for what? The lives of a handful of people who don’t care and never will.”

Cisco stared up at him, brow still creased, but he didn’t look disgusted like he first had at the bar. He looked like he was considering. Calculating. Thinking.

Len could work with that.

“In fact that’s not even what you’re fighting for,” Len went on. “You’re fighting for the greater glory of Barry Allen. Clearly this guy could care less about the value of human life, if he’s willing to let a murderer off with not even a slap on the wrist. So what do you have at the end of the day? A city that loves the Scarlet Speedster, and a lot of dead bodies.”

“What’s your alternative?” Cisco asked, and he was . . . serious. There was no trepidation in his eyes, no trace of wariness. Just simple, genuine curiosity.

Len smirked. “Play the game from the other side,” he said simply. “Don’t live for him, live for you. He does whatever he feels like, you do the same. Go out there and take what you want.”

“What I want?” Cisco laughed bitterly. “The only thing I ever wanted was this, and it’s just gone bad. I want back what it used to be like, when we all looked out for each other. When we were there for each other. When we were friends.”

“You want a crew who’ll watch your back,” Len concluded. “If that’s all you’re asking, you should come work for me.”

“You?” Cisco asked skeptically

“You do the best work in Central City,” Len pointed out. “I'll take good care of you, and I’ll make sure everyone else does the same. Lisa’d love to have you around, she’s been a little smitten with you ever since you got that bomb out of her neck.”

Cisco looked at him with wide eyes. “You just slept with me,” he pointed out, “and you’re saying your sister has a crush on me?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time we shared,” he said truthfully. “Though not at the same time, before you get any bright ideas.”

“So . . . this,” Cisco gestured between the two of them. “It would happen again?”

“If you want it to,” Len told him.

Cisco looked off to one side, clearly weighing the consequences, but Len cupped his face and turned the kid back to look at him.

“Come home with me, Cisco Ramon.”

Cisco looked him up and down for a second, then-

“Yeah,” he said. “Okay. Let's go.”

**Author's Note:**

> i want to make it very clear that this is an explanation, not an excuse for psychotech’s behavior. this series is the adventures of villain!cisco and this is his villain origin story. he is a bad guy, just like len and lisa and mick are bad guys. that being said, i don’t think any of them but mick actually enjoy killing, and they’ll avoid it when they don’t have to go out of their way to do so. the best explanation of len’s weird moral complexity is that he doesn’t hurt things that can’t fight back (ie children), but everyone else is fair game. cisco has a slightly fucked up outlook on the value of human life, given to him by barry, but like len he prefers not to kill when there’s no need or it can be easily avoided.


End file.
